The Berlin Wall - At 2 a.m. on Aug. 13, 1961, a low, barbed-wire barrier was strung between East and...

The Berlin Wall

- At 2 a.m. on Aug. 13, 1961, a low, barbed-wire

barrier was strung between East and West Berlin. It effectively divided the city in half.

- East Germans were very poor and many were moving to West Germany.

- The Soviets built a wall to prevent East Germans from slipping into the West.

- This project almost launched the world into a

nuclear conflict

Chapter 20 (Sec. 4)The Soviet Union: Rise

and Fall-After WWII, the USSR

emerged as a superpower

- Stalin increased the Soviet sphere of influence across Europe

Nikita Khrushchev

- emerged as the new Soviet leader in 1956

- began a policy of de-Stalinization: free political prisoners, and reduced censorship

- wanted the US and USSR to "peacefully coexistence"

Leonid Brezhnev - lead the USSR from

the mid 1960's - 1982

- locked up dissidents (people who spoke out against the government)

- turned back to Stalin type policies

Successes in the Soviet Union

- government poured money into weapons and science

- launched the first satellite into orbit in 1957 (Sputnik)

- also put the first man into space- low rent, cheap bread free health care,

day care for children, low unemployment

Soviet Foreign Policy - Stalin asserted control over Easter Europe

- Khrushchev set up the Warsaw Pact in 1955

Developing countries - the USSR sought to win friends in

developing nations

- they offered these nations economic and military support (Cuba and other nations in Latin America)

- this policy eventually led to armed conflict

- Soviets backed North Korea = Korean War

(1950-53)

- Soviets backed North Vietnam =Vietnam War

(1963-73)

1961 - Berlin Wall is constructed1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis1979 - Soviets invade Afghanistan

(this war drained the Soviet economy)

Collapse of the Soviet Union 1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power in - sought to end cold war tensions with the US- pulled Soviet troops out of Afghanistan- signed arms control treaties with the US Glasnost - policy of openness Perestroika - restructuring of the government- these reforms brought economic chaos:

prices soared and the Soviet "Ruble" became worthless

1991: The Soviet Union Breaks up - Estonia. Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,

East Germany, Romania, Bulgaria break away from the USSR

- coup attempts to over throw Gorbachev, he resigns

- after 74 years, the Soviet Union ceased to exist

Russia

- had been the largest of the Soviet nations

- Boris Yeltsin became President of Russia

- the country was in disarray

- organized crime flourished

- economically Russia collapsed, could not pay its soldiers

Chechnya - Russian province that

attempted to break away in 1994, turned into a major armed conflict

Russia Today

2000 - Vladimir Putin is elected President (former head of the Soviet secret police KGB)

Deterrence• The policy of making America and its allies

so militarily strong that it would deter (discourage, prevent) any attack.

The Korean War• 1950-1953

• South Korea invaded by North Korean Communist forces

• The U.N. votes to help S.K. repel the invasion

The Korean War

United States/ South Korea

VS

North Korea/China

-Armistice signed in 1953

-No Real Victory

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis

• Oct. 1962

• Soviets ship nuclear weapons capable of hitting the US to Cuba

• President Kennedy orders a naval blockade of Cuba

• Weapons are eventually returned to the Soviet Union

Vietnam

Vietnam